Latest integrated ‘sawing & storage’ systems
report 60% gains in plant efficiency!

• 500% added storage capacity - in 'less' floor space
• 60% plus, overall operating efficiency gains
• greater flexibility in stocked material mix
• dramatic logistics improvement

Kaltenbach and Remmert, fully integrated saw/store system		View across input field of saw on picker side
View on picker side of saw		Cassette units speed material selection and management

Through their collaborative expertise, Remmert and Kaltenbach have developed what they believe is the ultimate level of optimised integration between saw (and other machine centres), long material store and associated logistics.

Kaltenbach customer installation feed-back shows that their latest, fully automated material store, picking, cut-to-length and logistics technology is achieving dramatic savings in facility space, process time, flexibility and management control. All adding to greatly improved overall plant efficiency and influence on the bottom-line. Remmert and Kaltenbach have been combining their respective expertise for many years to supply Remmert storage/handling and logistics and Kaltenbach sawing, handling and integrated NC technology. The two companies formed an even stronger alliance in 2004 to provide mutual sales and service support across Europe where projects need their combined technologies. Remmert ‘cassette’ storage technology is a unique approach to material storage, which enables far greater flexibility in stocked material mix, selection and onward processing speeds. A major added benefit being a much smaller floor footprint but with increased capacity. Remmert cassette storage technology enables optimum speed and material selection, which is infinitely quicker and more versatile than typical single-bar storage systems. The cassettes are effectively open topped, open-ended box sections that expose the stocked material. A single large system can contain several hundred cassettes. Stored material length of 6.5m is standard but up to 15m is possible depending on system type. Each cassette is separated by vertical bar dividers (typically into 0-4 rows) and readily repositioned in a multi-hole grid to suit stock selections. Cassettes are removed automatically by an overhead traversing cradle, that can lower and position itself between any two vertical columns of cassettes, selecting a single cassette from either side. A withdrawn cassette is lowered to be in-line with an automated picking gantry that sits alongside the saws input magazine. The picker quickly selects the required material from the cassette, removing an individual bar from any one of the top surface stock positions and loads it onto the saws input magazine. The picking cycle can be repeated as required. Material is then transported via the saws input magazine into the saws clamping jaws. A cassette divided into 3 material sizes for example, provides the immediate advantage of a 3-way choice per picker visit, unlike single-bar storage systems.

A typical automated saw/store arrangement using Kaltenbach saws integrated with Remmert storage technology could comprise a circular saw and bandsawing machine. The circular saw being ideal for mid-to-soft metals, below 150mm, and the bandsaw suiting all metals, especially ultra-hard materials. A variety of saw/store combinations are available, from single-saw to several machines. With material fed from the storage system, the Kaltenbach saws NC system takes over, trim cutting if needed, auto-setting the cut length, batch quantity and optimising minimum material waste. Cut material then outputs onto a roller way or auto-sorts into bins.

A number of alternative Remmert cassette storage systems are available to suit material capacity, demand, available space and capital costs. A low-cost solution for limited storage tasks for example, is their Tower cassette system, which provides excellent use of height, (up to 20m) within a very small installation footprint. Bridge type cassette storage systems for example are ideally suited to large warehouses, with low storage costs per unit area. They can accept bar lengths of 6.5m as standard but with a 15m option and storage heights up to an incredible 25m, with individual cassette loading of 60kN. Improvements of more than 500% in storage capacity are said to be typical, whilst reducing the original floor-space taken and at the same time improving line machine operating efficiency, in some case by more than 60%.

The quality of the software and control systems is critical to maximising store-saw system performance. Remmert and Kaltenbach have developed and integrated their systems in-house, which they believe provides the greatest design control and optimised performance and ensures the best possible service and technical support. Remmert and Kaltenbach systems have been used over many years by many of Europe’s top companies and are increasing seen to provide new opportunities to further optimise efficiency, way beyond the traditional saw/store function. This then impacts across a companies entire production and logistics capability.